Here is my journaling if you want to read it:

I have never scrapped this story. I only have one picture from the almost 15 months that I nursed my girl. This is my nursing story. It was started when they were 4 months old. I can't believe I've been nursing for 4 months as of tomorrow. What a great experience it has been so far.

I had my girls at 33 weeks and 6 days, 27 hours after my water broke. I started pumping about 14 hours after I had them. I practiced nursing them the next morning. Its funny how much of it is a blur even though it was only 4 months ago. The girls were given an IV with nutrition, and bottle feed starting with 5-10 cc of my colostrums or formula. That when I went to pump, I got next to nothing. I didn't realize that I could pump directly into the little bottles so I was pumping into the 4 oz amedela bottles that came with the horns for the pump. When you are barely getting anything, pouring from one bottle to another does not work.

The next morning, Friday, I pumped and got nothing. Of course being a Friday the lactation consultant was not in. I was also coming home from the hospital with out the girls. I had a borrowed Medela pump in style but still needed to get the horns. I decided to rent a pump. I rented a hospital grade Amedela pump that was the same as I using in the hospital. That afternoon at home I pumped and got very little. I had to combine multiple pumping sessions to have any milk to bring to the hospital.

At this point I kept on pumping every 3 hours during then day if I was home. I didn't pump overnight because I figured this was my last chance for sleep. The NICU nurses didn't let me nurse during part of the time because they wanted to track what the girls ate.

Dani came home when she was 6 days old. She was back at her birth weight. This was a Tuesday, on Sunday when we took her to the pediatrician for a weight check she was less than 4 pounds. I had been nursing her exclusively since she left the hospital. The doctor wanted me to give her 1-2 bottles of neosure a day. The doctor was also worried about the quality of my milk, wanted to know if the NICU was supplementing Sydney. I actually asked at the hospital if Sydney was only getting my milk, and she was. Sydney was coming home the next day. My DH suggested to me that we give Dani pumped milk so we know exactly what she was getting. Turns out she was not a good nurser.

The next day at the hospital, I spoke to the lactation consultant. I explained what was going on with Dani. Her response was to keep on giving doing what I was doing, that they were premature. I pumped and bottle feed for the first 2 months or so. I was trying to get them to nurse every day. I started to nurse them overnight instead of getting them bottles of expressed breast milk for downstairs, or remembering to bring up bottles in a cooler.

I returned the hospital pump when the girls were 3 months old. I had not used it for about 2 months. I was only pumping in the morning with the PIS. I even have a little freezer stash.

My girls went for getting bottles at every feeding to only getting bottles when I need a break, or I want to make my mom or MIL happy.



Credits:

Brandi White's Winter blue

Flergs' glitter style